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Offline - Gammor Rebel Super Soldier Base
Still at the Rebel Base Looking at the fortified wall with some confusion, Gorbie snaps out of another mind trick from someone on the other side of him. "Okay guys, lets get this wall cut!" Getting his lightsabre out yet again, Gorbie begins to work. From a couple meters behind him, Stryder briskly walks up. "Gorbie. What the hell do you think you're doing?". Gorbie turns around to see him. "Uhh, trying to get into this secret base. It's the right one, trust me." "This is a rebel base! You're here attacking a rebel base!" Gorbie looks completely frustrated with Stryder at this point, and sighs. "Seriously, you weren't listening to that whole planning thing we did right before we got here? Nothing at all. What, meditating or something? Come on, work with me here. " "No, I wasn't listening, it feels like I was in orbit of Ithor and then all of a sudden I was here attacking this base with you." "Okay that whole thing about the process being evil and hurts the force, you missed that too?" "Yes. You must die now!" Paladin Stryder lights his lightsabre. "Whoa whoa whoa, see this is the problem with you Paladins. You don't think. You attack. Who came up with this?" "We follow the teachings of General Kenobi. You know this." "Ohhh, this is starting to make a bit more sense. I think he's a bit off his rocker. Think, man, think!." Stryder lunges at Gorbie, which is deflected by Gorbie. Stryder continues his attacks, while Gorbie continues to talk. "Okay, though I've been fired recently, I've been fighting for the Rebel Alliance for a while now, why would I attack my own facilities? I know about what they're doing here - we're the ones who stole the technology from DS-1!" Gorbie dodges yet another thrust attack from Stryder. "This facility is an abomination. They kill one person to make the other stronger, sucking the force out! They cause a great pain in the force, and if you would take your blinders off, you might see the implications this type of thing has on the galaxy." Parry, parry, dodge. "You might see the evil in this? The dark side implications of this? No? Nothing. So you guys are trained to follow orders and that's it." Dodge, dodge, Parry. Stryder finally speaks, continuing his attacks. "You, I had heard stories of how bad you were in combat. In fact, you are wonderful." "Thank you; I've worked hard to become so. "I admit it, you are better than I am. " "Then why are you smiling?" "Because I know something you don't know" "And what is that?" Stryder moves his lightsabre to his right hand. "I... am not left-handed." "You are amazing." "I ought to be, after many years of training" Gorbie smiles. "Oh, there's something I ought to tell you." "Tell me" "I'm not left-handed either." Gorbie switches hands. Stryder pauses his attack for a moment. "Okay, prove it to me then, somehow" "Done." Gorbie turns to his friends working on the wall. "Retreat back to the city!" ---------------- At the bar Gorbie takes a puff of the cigar in his right hand, then a sip of the scotch in his left. The bar seemed liked a blur to him, the crowds of aliens bustling around him seemed to move in slow motion as he watched the holovid screen. On it was a woman in yellow reporting on a slave labour of alien races in Gammor. Her cameraman followed her as she snuck into the factory, exposing he mistreatment. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is May O'Leary, investigative reporter for holonet channel six news. GalacticTV. Everywhere." Gorbie turns to the group. "Hey guys, I gotta go for a bit. I'll be back. Camp out here for a bit give me a few hours." He puts on a cloak and steps out of the bar. ----------------- Stryder in the Alley Stryder crouches down in the alleyway. Not really wanting to 'wind down' with the rest of the group, he thought he would explore the city to find more information about the secret base he was sure was legit. From behind him, a chuckle. Stryder tries to stand up to turn to face his attacker, but cannot. His mind goes blank. -------------------- Meeting April^H^H^H^H^H May "I'll see you tomorrow for our flight, g'nite!". May splits from her production crew and enters her hotel room. Turning on the light, she sees a puff of smoke coming from Gorbie - the back of his chair facing her. "Who the hell are you, and how did you get in here?" Gorbie spins his chair to face her and smiles. "I've always wanted to do the puff f smoke and chair turn thing. Really dramatic. Nice." April takes a step towards the door. "Seriously, I'll call the cops. What are you doing here?". Gorbie smiles. "Everyone hates me. Everyone hates me friends. Anytime we..." April cuts him off. "Whoa listen buddy, I don't run a PR firm, I'm a reporter. You can't pay credits just to raise your rep in Farside." "I need your help. You're a galactic reporter, you can get stories out. I've got a couple bad ones. My name is Gorbie-wan Kenobi. May pauses for a moment. "I've heard of you. You're supposed to be dead, you're a former Tie Marine... They threw a big celebration when the news came out. I was actually in Imperial Centre at the time. So what's your scoop?" ----------------------- The Base Revisited Gorbie helps May at the last rungs of the ladder they were climbing. The Rebel facility base guard was waiting for them at the top. "This way sir...." May whispers to Gorbie. "So explain again how you got the guard to give us a tour of the facility?" "Easy" Gorbie responds. "The night-time shift is on and they have somewhat weak minds. Entering the chamber, there are dozens secured into a harness, barely able to look up. "What is this place?" asks May. "Well, we originally recovered only one unit, but it seems they've replicated it a couple times. What they're doing is literally sucking out the life force from one person and putting it in another. It looks like they do this over a while in order to maximise its effectiveness. May uses her handycam, taking video footage of the facility. "Damn, end of storage card..." She starts rummaging in her pack. The lights dim slightly, a ghastly scream is heard - Gorbie and May look at each other and head towards a dimly lit room. Approaching it, flashes of light appear from a similar "Force-suction" machine. Strapped to the machine is Stryder, and on the receiving end of the machine is a Commonwealth Colonel Jefferson. "Who do you think you are, coming in here trying to destroy this program? Don't you realize that this program will save the galaxy?" Gorbie shakes his head. "I don't think you get it. You're killing people to make yourselves stronger. That's not the way we want to win, even if it could make us win. Along the way to saving the galaxy you've strayed into what you believe to be a righteous cause, but you've let your minds justify things that are ghastly and against all possible moral teachings. Colonel Jefferson stands up. "You think it's easy being tasked with this project? You didn't have to make any hard decisions Captain. Yes, see, I remember you. I was there on Hoth when you gave your status report to General Dodonna. I was there, inspired by your tales just like the rest of the command staff. But you didn't have to be there afterwards and make the tough decisions we had to make. The knowledge another enemy was coming was confined to senior staff members only, and we made a plan to be able to take them on. That plan involved sacrificing people - voluntary at first, but as time went on, we couldn't keep up with the demand, and we were a victim of the programs success. You have to understand, we are going to save trillions of people, and if we have to kill a couple hundred to make ourselves stronger, I, for one, am ready to do so. I'm ready to make the hard choices you'll never be ready to make." Jefferson pushes a button on his console, and a bulkhead closes down on their only exit. He lights his lightsabre and motions to the force transfer machine. "See, Stryder here was never connected to the machine. I've just been shocking him for a while. You're the real target, Captain". Gorbie grabs his lightsabre from under his cloak. "If I've inspired you to go this route, then I've truly I've failed you, I've failed the Alliance, and worst of all I've failed myself. This ends here." Lightsabres clash as Gorbie and Jefferson each attack each other. May sees her opportunity, and sneaks to the console. Jefferson notices her almost immediately and throws his lightsabre directly at her. May sees her life flash before her eyes as the lightsabre approaches her head, only to see it bounce off a force wall in between the two. Crystal out, Gorbie smiles at Jefferson. "Leave the girl alone, this is between you and me." Jefferson is strong, and is throwing everything he possibly can at Gorbie. Gorbie is barely able to hang on, never having been an expert combatant. May continues her hacking, and Stryder is on the ground, sobbing in pain. The Oracle appears to Gorbie as he is fully defensive versus Jeffersons attacks. Her arms are crossed. "He is very powerful you know. You won't be able to beat him unless you use the crystal." Gorbie, now a bit self conscious of talking to ghosts wile May, speaks to the Oracle in his mind. "I can't be using this thing whenever I need to. I can't let this thing run my destiny." "I think this might be the right time. Oh wait, THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO USE THE CRYSTAL". Gorbie inwardly smirks. "You can't come up with any other way to beat this guy?" "Let him win..." "Cryptic and odd as usual, thanks a lot." Gorbie turns his lightsabre off. "A willing participant will give you more power right? You let these two go, I'll submit myself to your machine. You'll be as powerful as Darth Vader or General Kenobi. Think about it." Jefferson's attacks subside slowly. The potential power being offered to him clouds his mind. "The machine. Get in." Gorbie slowly moves towards the machine. The force field protecting May is now down, and she rushes to stop Gorbie, only to be thrown back through the force by Jefferson. Stepping over a seemingly dead Stryder, Jefferson moves towards the switch on the wall to begin the machine. He de-activates his lightsabre and and puts his hand on the switch. "So long Gorbie..." says Jefferson. In a flash of green light Stryder activates Jeffersons own lightsabre, slicing off his hand. Screaming and clutching his arm, Jefferson kicks Stryder in the head, knocking him out cold. Lightsabres re-activated the duel beings again, this time a bit more evenly matched. "One more chance to surrender to face your crimes, Jefferson..." Unfortunately the banter only works to enrage Jefferson, and his attacks seem to become stronger. A flury of attaacks later Jefferson has the advantage and is holding his lightsabre over Gorbie's head, blocked only by a weaker block by Gorbie. Forcing his lightsabre down towards Gorbies head, his eyes glow red and he seems to be gaining strength. At the very last moment before contact Gorbie uses the force to trigger his pistol, shotting Jefferson in the stomach. Flinching, Jefferson stumbles back a step before a lightsabre impales him in the chest. At this very moment May opens the bulkhead. May and Gorbie each grab one of Stryder's shoulders, helping him leave the area. Approaching the centre area of the main processing area, Gorbie holds his hand up to stop the group. Stepping out of the darkness are the Rebel Super Soldier programs best students, incredibly angry that their leader is now dead. "Revenge time, boys. Let's teach this prissy bitch a lesson." Gorbie looks around to all of them. "You think it would be that easy, but you forgot that I have friends." His emphasis on friends with no result leads to some chuckes. Gorbie looks down at his communicator which has now run out of batteries. "Stryder, you mind?... okay good... My FRIENDS." An explosion from the roof, and in a form fitting only the best script, the rest of the heros drop into the middle of the room to join Gorbie. The Rebel super soldiers scramble for reinforcements as Zaeed starts rigging the machines to explode. "Time to fight our way out, glad to see you guys could join the party..." "Gorbie, we can't leave just yet" begins May. "On Jeffersons computer I found information on an alien beacon, and it looks as though it's in the lower level of this base...."